Is There Really a Problem?

How communication works

 

Learning Objectives

 

• A problem cannot be solved until people realize that there actually is one, and then identify and define it.
• The first thing someone must do when defining a problem is understand what was supposed to happen, or how it was supposed to work.

The 10 steps to take in defining a problem

Guidelines on How to Put Solutions To Work 

Questions That Can Identify Problems

  

Introduction

This module will show how basic communication skills can be used to determine if there really is a problem, and then at how to identify and define it. Sometimes the problem is not what is going on. It is how you are reacting to it, or what you are expecting.

 

1.      Is There Really a Problem?

            If people deny that there is a problem, or cannot agree that there is a problem, or do not even realize that there is a problem, the problem cannot be solved. While some problems, like inexperience and youth, do solve themselves, eventually, most others require time, creativity, and effort—quite often a lot of time, creativity, and effort. As a rule, then, a problem cannot be solved until people realize that there actually is one, and then identify and define it.

            This section will show how basic communication skills can be used to determine if there really is a problem, and then at how to identify and define it.

            The dictionary says a problem is an intricate and unsettled question, a source of perplexity, distress, or vexation—sometimes all three. Nevertheless, sometimes things that perplex, distress, or vex you are part of life, or your job. They are conditions, not problems. As aviation pioneer and former American Airlines president C.R. Smith put it: “A problem is something you have hopes of changing. Anything else is a fact of life.”

            Sometimes the problem is not what is going on. It is how you are reacting to it, or what you are expecting.

• If your flight is cancelled because of bad weather, and you miss an important meeting, the problem is not the weather. The problem is that you could not rearrange your schedule.
• If you have to move a 20,000-kilogram piece of equipment, and all you have is a van, the problem is not the van. The problem is that you do not have a bigger truck.

2.      Expect Problems

            Problems are part of your life, and part of your job. If there were never any problems at work, you probably wouldn’t have a job. Solving problems is one of management’s most important and ongoing responsibilities.

            Problems turn order into chaos; make carefully crafted plans self-destruct, and leave you feeling trapped in a quagmire of confusion.

            The ability to solve problems is an important and valuable skill, one to be developed and cultivated. It can only be applied, however, in situations where a problem actually exists, and when you know what the problem really is. As G.K. Chesterton put it: “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.”

            To help you determine if your situation is a problem, or if it is what Smith refers to as “a fact of life,” ask yourself the following questions. (Some, however, might not apply to every specific situation.):

• Are you happy or satisfied with what is going in?
• What really is (or is not) happening?
• What really is supposed to be happening?
• When was it supposed to happen?
• What were you expecting or planning on?
• Is it happening the way it is supposed to?
• What could you reasonably expect under the circumstances?
• Is the cost within expectations?

3.      What Do You Actually Know?

            As Charles Kettering tells us, “It ain’t the things you don’t know that’ll get you in trouble, but the things you know for sure that ain’t so.” Assumptions are a common cause of problems, and it is easy to get trapped by them. Here are some examples:

·                    You hold a department meeting every Tuesday at 11 a.m., and have been doing so for years. Two new people transferred into your department Monday, but no one told them about the weekly meeting. Everyone assumed someone else would tell them about it. No one did, and they missed it.

·                    You order components from two different suppliers, one in the U.S. and one in Germany. They must be both compatible and interchangeable. They arrive, and while they meet the over-all design specifications, the German components use nuts and bolts in the standard metric sizes, while the U.S.-made components use non-metric gauges.

·                    You scheduled a videoconference call with project partners in Rome, Berlin, London, and Los Angeles, for Wednesday at 3 p.m., your time, but it had to be delayed one week. No one connected the new meeting time to the fact that Los Angeles would go through the regular Daylight Savings Time switch and set their clocks back one hour. They missed the meeting. It had to be rescheduled, again.

            We often focus on the end results as the problem: the missed team meeting, mix-up on the sizes, and the videoconference, and the blame that goes with them all. In these cases—and in many others like them—they are not the problems. The problems were the faulty assumptions that led to them.